The producers of the James Bond franchise chose Daniel Craig to take over the tux and Ashton Martin from Pierce Brosnan. I can't say that I've seen Daniel Craig in all that much, but he seems like a pretty good choice. Despite having blond hair, which I'm sure they'll either darken or ligthen completely for the part, he seems to have a good James Bond look; he's equal parts suave and equal parts gruff.

The Bond franchise changes slightly with each new Bond, so I'm interested to see what direction they go. Connery was the trendsetter and brought a bit of mystery to the part. Despite only appearing in one movie, George Lazenby was the most physical of the Bonds. Roger Moore brought a playboy panache to the part and really brought the one-liners to the forefront. Timothy Dalton was the roughest of all the Bonds, and was probably the closest to how Fleming viewed Bond. Pierce Brosnan was the throwback, who was good at bridging the gaps between the old movies and the newer movies.

I'm interested to see which direction the franchise heads. I think he may be the youngest person to ever don the tux. I could be wrong on that. I'm hoping that they utilize Craig's sense of humor, without Bonding it out too much. The Bond movies haven't been humorously fresh in quite a while, so if they can kick start that back up, then I'm all for it.

Here are some of the people they went through in their search:

Ewan McGregor - I just don't see him as Bond. He doesn't have "the look." Plus, I can't imagine him willingly choosing another major icon to portray.

Clive Owen - I think he would have been pretty good. He's kinda gruff, but also has that suave side.

Ioan Gruffudd - He's relatively unknown, but recently starred as "Mr. Fantastic." He didn't seem to have the gravitas to play Bond. He doesn't hold the screen, at least not as well as the others mentioned.

Colin Firth - HA! This made me laugh. The guy's a great actor, but he's no Bond. Not by an England Countryside mile.

Hugh Grant - This would have been an interesting choice, but he's WAY too foppish to be Bond. Plus, Bond isn't supposed to be caught with Hookers in SoCal.

Colin Farrell - He would have been a wild-card choice. I could see him doing it, but not doing it long term. Part of the thing with Bond is that you want him to do it for an extended period of time. I couldn't see Farrell going the distance. Plus, good actors like Colin Farrell rarely choose parts such as these.

Heath Ledger - Yeah, if they chose Heath Ledger, they would *really* have to take the franchise in a new direction. He looks too young and inexperienced for the role.

Hugh Jackman - I would have loved this choice as it would be in the Pierce Brosnan/Sean Connery mold. He's got the suave and rough stuff down. I would have been surprised if he had taken the role, knowing that he has a Wolverine spin-off in the works.

Now that they've selected a new Bond, I can do a quick list. Maybe I'll do another post and expand on these a bit.

1. Pierce Brosnan - No offense to Sean Connery, but Brosnan's movies are better.
2. Sean Connery - I think he gets the iconic status, but let's face it, his Bond movies are pretty hard to sit through (Goldfinger withstanding)
3. Roger Moore - I thought he was pretty cool. His 70's Bond outings far outshine his 80's Bond movies.
4. Timothy Dalton - He never really hit the ground running. The franchise was tired by then, so I think he suffered a bit of a backlash.
5. George Lazenby - He was pretty good, but he's only in ONE movie.

matt out